Cast Out
by CantonDem
Summary: Between cascading wars and a number of betrayals, Jennifer Walters is angry and disillusioned. Susan Richards tries to extend an olive branch, but it doesn't go well. Oneshot. No slash, no tf, just angst.


**Author's Note:** This takes place at some time after _She-Hulk #18_. I'm leaving the continuity details up in the air. It's a fanfic, anyway. Nothing special. This was just a short dialogue that wanted to be set down somehow, that's all.

As to characters... Janet van Dyne (Wasp) is actually a better Glinda to Jennifer Walter's (She-Hulk's) Elphaba, but Susan Richards (Invisible Woman) is blond and can travel by bubble. Also, I like Susan better. So I went with Sue.

**Obligatory Disclaimer:** This is a work of fanfiction. I have no rights to Marvel properties. Or _Wicked_ properties, for that matter. (Have to cover the bases! It's not a crossover! Chill!) Please don't sue the poor student.

* * *

"Jennifer." 

"Mrs. Richards." The lawyer unburied herself from the thick book on her desk. Her bright green eyes uneasily met the blue ones belonging to the woman in the doorway.

"Jennifer, you _can _call me Sue." Susan Richards leaned her shoulder against the doorframe, unsure about the sudden formality. Jennifer Walters had been a teammate, a trusted friend, and warm. But maybe her warmth had come from trust and naiveté, and now that both of those were gone...

Jen sighed. "Fine. Sue. What do you need?"

"I thought you might want to take an evening off. Catch up, go to dinner, see a show. Something to take both our minds off the perpetual infighting."

"Do you have anything specific in mind?" asked Jen, raising an eyebrow.

"Something _fun_, Jennifer. _Popular_. Perfect for a girls' night out."

Sue was dancing around something, but not particularly well and Jen wasn't buying. She had her suspicions, sure, but between superheroing and lawyering she'd been too busy for musicals lately. Besides, after a childhood in L.A., she was blasé about show-business in general. She'd also come to hate pretense. "Sue, just tell me."

"_Wicked_."

"_Wicked_. _Wicked_..." Jen tapped a pen on her desk, pretending to think. "The show about the green-skinned outcast? The one who tries to do good for a world that ultimately turns on her, _that Wicked_?" She may not have paid _close _attention to the Broadway scene, but she _did _live in Manhattan and this particular show had been going strong for years.

"Well. Yes. That _Wicked_," Sue confirmed softly. She'd thought the show might prove therapeutic, but who knew, really?

Jen turned back to her reading. "Forget it."

"Jennifer."

"I have a _lot _of work to do, Sue. Just go back to your life and let me get back to mine. Please."

Sue sifted a frustrated hand through her flaxen hair and decided against sitting down for a long chat. "You're not an outcast, Jennifer."

"I was depowered. I'm not a super-hero anymore. Stark saw to _that_. And your husband. Don't look at me like that, he was in on it, too." Jen was gazing steadily at Sue. "They cast me out, don't you _get _that? I was green and dangerous and they _cast _me _out_. I _think _that meets the definition."

Jen realized she was now out of her seat and speaking in a voice she usually reserved for the courtroom. She made no move to return to her chair.

"Oh, Jennifer, what _did _they do to you?" Of course, Sue already knew the technical answer to this. What hadn't they done, really? Shot her cousin into space, used her against him, neutralized her and sent her on her merry way... Jen had every right to be angry. Sue simply hadn't expected to be a target.

She almost smiled. If nothing else, Jennifer still had her temper.

Jen, for her part, tried to gather herself, and managed to lower her volume. "Look, just... Thank you for your offer, but I _really _have to pass."

Sue nodded. "I understand."

"You... No, no you don't understand, but... Again, thanks."

"You're welcome. If you _ever _need to talk..."

"I know where to find you." Jennifer nodded, sitting down and getting back to her reading.

Sue disappeared as only she could, and Jen hunched her shoulders, just a bit, steeling herself for the rest of the day. It would be full of superhuman clients. She wondered if she could trust any of them.


End file.
